There They Stayed
by katxopixie
Summary: When Ziva's life is threatened again, she and Tony are forced to face the memories of Somalia, but will Tony be too late to say what's truly on his mind? A less fluffy, less cliche Tiva fanfic. COMPLETE
1. The Crime Scene

**So, while reading a bunch of Tiva fan-fictions, I got my own idea. My goal? To write one that is more than just fluff and which keeps to Ziva's character as well as I can. Of course, sticking completely to Ziva's character would be difficult, but I tried to do the best I could. **

**This is from 3rd person but is basically Tony's perspective, and I tried to stick to his character too, but giving him a softer side necessary for this story. This is all written at this point- it's five chapters long, each chapter about 1500 words. I really hope you guys like it. If I make any errors in details that someone can catch, please let me know- also, I've been known to make careless typos which I fail to notice when proofreading, so don't hesitate to call me out on something like that. This has been set somewhere during season 7.**

**For anyone who remembers my unreliability when it comes to updating, well, I'm trying to fix it. Hopefully this will all be up in reasonable time.**

**Please bear with me, this first chapter has a lot of case information and not much tiva. But read it anyways, it's important and... there's a certain four-legged someone back in Abby's lab! :)**

***One quick note- A few hours after I initially posted this, a reviewer kindly pointed out to me that I was referring to Ziva with the title 'officer' when it should be 'Agent'. Trouble is, I can't find where I did it. So, readers if anyone sees exactly where I called her 'Officer', can you point it out? Fortunately this edit called to my attention the fact that when I typed this on my computer I put breaks between the scenes, but here, they have been deleted. They're back, for readability's sake. Thanks!***

_Ding._

Tony heard the elevator doors beep and open. Mondays. His least favorite day of the week. Today was particularly unfavorable because he had stayed up until three A.M the night before watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie marathon. _I should never stay up past one AM on Sunday nights. _

"Tired, Tony?" Ziva asked from her desk across the bull pen. She wore brown cargo pants and a green v-neck shirt and had her hair tied back in her traditional ponytail. Her NCIS hat sat on the corner of her desk.

Tony never had a chance to reply to that. He was interrupted by McGee's arrival. Interestingly enough, he carried a bicycle helmet along with his usual stuff. "Morning, Tony. Ziva."

"What's with the helmet, McArmstrong?" Tony asked him, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you rode the bus."

"Decided to change my routine."

"Sounds like there's a girl involved," Ziva interjected, the sound of a smile in her voice.

"Is she a cyclist, or does creepily following her happen to take you down a bike trail?"

McGee turned to face Tony. "There's no reason. I just thought getting some exercise while shrinking my carbon footprint would be a good idea."

"Whatever you say. Where'd you park it? Does NCIS have a bike rack, or did you have to leave it at the local middle school?" the senior agent continued.

"I put it in the evidence garage."

"Put what in the evidence garage?" Gibbs asked as he approached the bull pen out of nowhere, catching only the last line of the conversation. "Grab your gear. We've got two dead hikers on a trail in Norfolk."

"Petty Officers?" Ziva inquired.

"Nope, civilians."

* * *

The sound of camera shutters filled the air at the crime scene. One man, roughly five feet seven and wearing lousy sneakers, laid on his side at the edge of the trail. Two gashes across his chest were the source of the dried blood over the leaves in front of him. The other man, nearly six and a half feet and at least three hundred pounds, was slumped up against a tree with a similar gash in his head. Skull could be seen above his eyes. His shirt was stained red.

"So boss, what are we doing here if these aren't enlisted men?" Tony asked.

"When park rangers arrived on the scene, they saw who they believe to be the killer escaping. He was wearing a navy uniform. This is five minutes away from a navy base. We're the logical people to call."

"Right. This looks like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie- lots of blood, deserted surroundings- when were they killed? Probably at night."

Gibbs looked at him. "DiNozzo. Bag and tag. McGee. Follow west- that's the way the suspect ran off. David. Head back on the trail and see if Ducky and Palmer need any help with the gurney."

Tony looked around at the surroundings. Three water bottles lay near the larger man's body. There was a backpack near the smaller man. And there was some sort of wooden thing hanging out of a bush. He went closer with a glove on to pull it out and inspect it. When he pulled, he discovered he was holding a large, blood-covered axe.

"Boss? I think I found the weapon," he called.

Gibbs walked over. "Bag and tag it. Looks like it could have made these gashes. Won't know for sure until Ducky shows up. Where is he?"

At that point, Dr. Mallard, Jimmy Palmer, and Ziva approached with the gurney. "Sorry it took so long, Jimmy here got chased by a chipmunk," the medical examiner said with a smile.

Tony scoffed. "What, did it unleash its furry wrath on you? Or did it break into song? It's always the little animals that turn out to be evil." He laughed.

"It wasn't a chipmunk, it was a squirrel. And it could have been rabid," Palmer said to defended himself. "I wasn't chased, either- I just tripped over a tree root and fell down a hill when I backed away from it."

Tony went back to rounding up evidence and putting it into sterile bags, still laughing at Palmer in his head.

"Ah, my friend. What have they done to you?" Ducky asked, addressing the deceased. "Looks like someone got on the wrong side of an axe. Reminds me of one time I was driving through the English countryside and I had just passed this little pub called the Coach and Horses…" Tony didn't listen after that.

"So you found the murder weapon?" Ziva said as she approached him.

"Wasn't that hard to find. Its handle was sticking out of that bush over there."

"Isn't there some colloquialism about that? A handle in a bush is worth… something like that," Ziva asked.

Tony chuckled at the familiarity- Ziva messing up English expressions is almost a weekly occurrence around the office. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, Ziva."

"Right," she said, picking up something brown with her gloves and putting it into a bag.

"What's that you have there?" Tony asked.

"Looks like dried meat."

"Don't bother, this is a hiking trail. I'm sure ten people with jerky walked through here yesterday. What are the chances it could have anything to do with our case?"

Just then, Gibbs appeared behind the two. "I said bag and tag, not half-ass your evidence collection, Tony. Good work, Ziva."

She smiled a coy smile in Tony's direction before continuing to bag the dried meat. Tony, not wanting to be upstaged by the Probette, kept looking for more evidence. He found some bottle caps, a twenty-dollar note, and something that looked like a ripped piece of a negative.

"Time of death for this big fellow was around seven fifteen this morning. As for the smaller one, at least five minutes beforehand," Ducky announced. "The axe we have here probably made these gashes on the victims, but I won't know for sure until I get them back to autopsy."

"Think we could be looking at a murder-suicide?" McGee asked, coming back down the trail. "Oh, and I found a disposable camera."

"I can't see anyone being able to inflict such a wound upon themselves, but I wouldn't rule it out- stranger things have happened," Dr. Mallard said.

"DiNozzo, bag and tag the camera. Then I want everyone to hurry up and gather the rest of the evidence. This crime scene is right in the gray area between our jurisdiction and Metro's. I don't feel like dealing with them. I'll interview the rangers who found the bodies."

"Got it, Boss," Tony said.

Tony could hear the crashing of Abby's heavy-metal music before he even got off the elevator. He was bringing the last of the evidence down to her, finding an ID for the victims, and going back upstairs to find out if they had records. Neither one had a driver's license on their person.

* * *

"You got anything, Abs?"

"I ran fingerprints on the dead guys. Came back to a Mr. Carl Shavers and a Mr. Norman DeWitt, Jr. I sent it up to your email. Something about all this just doesn't seem right to me, though. A guy in the Navy hacking two civilians to death on a hiking trail, leaving behind the murder weapon, and letting himself be spotted fleeing the scene? Sounds hinky, if you ask me."

"You're right. But we don't even know yet if that was the murder weapon, or if one of our stiffs killed the other," Tony commented.

"I'll see what the evidence tells me. Oh, and by the way, have you see any costume shops around here that sell realistic-looking skeleton masks? I need one for a friend's wedding, but all I can find are those cheesy ones that spurt fake blood- you know, the kind kids wear on Halloween. I need something a little more sophisticated," Abby inquired.

"No idea," Tony answered, leaving her lab, wondering what kind of wedding she was intending to go to. But before he could get to the door, he was ambushed by a tiny set of puppy teeth digging into his shoes.

"Mortimer! Aww, come on, those were Italian!" Tony exclaimed. "I thought he left for puppy school."

Abby rushed over and picked up her dog. "Actually, Mortimer is staying with me for awhile longer. He missed the cut-off age limit for joining the puppy school by a couple of weeks, so he's staying here until next year! Isn't that great?"

Tony made a mental note to wear less expensive shoes to work in the future.

**I just had to include Mortimer, I completely fell in love with him when I saw him on the show!**

**So... like it? hate it? questions? want to yell at me for messing some details up? please review!!!**


	2. Lost In Thought

**Wow, this has only been up for 9 or so hours, and I've already got 18 reviews, favorites, and watches! You guys actually managed to take up more space in my inbox than the crap colleges keep sending! (I'm a high school junior so I get that stuff nonstop over email and in snail mail.) So, since my last chapter contained pretty much zero Tiva and was all crime scene details, here's this one to make up for it.**

**So what we have here in this chapter is a little more evidence to begin with, then in the second half, Tony thinks back to Paris... my interpretation of what happened in Paris, that is. And at the end, a cliffhanger that leads us directly into Tiva. A note to the reader who mentioned me referring to Ziva as 'Offcer David': I can't find it anywhere and neither can my readers, so thank you so so much for commenting but I just don't know where it is.**

**Lastly, if anyone can catch my subtle reference to a video game I still play, comment and you'll win... uh... a virtual hug! Here's a hint: the reference is hidden in the first ten lines of this chapter. So... here we go!**

"Two dead civilians, axed while on a hiking trip. One was a mechanic, the other a painter. McGee, can you pull up their addresses?" Ziva asked. The three agents were at their desks, sorting through information about the victims.

"Shavers lived on Rustboro Avenue, DeWitt on Petalburg Lane. Both in Norfolk. They didn't live near enough to each other to know each other as neighbors, or even to pass each other in the same coffee shop. Can we be sure these two knew each other at all?" McGee asked.

"Let's not rule anything out. Any priors?" Tony asked.

"DeWitt egged a house sophomore year of high school, Shavers ran a stop sign a year ago, nothing significant," Ziva answered.

"Wives?"

"Neither was married, both lived with their girlfriends."

Suddenly, Gibbs appeared. "Metro has already briefed them. Both say their boyfriends were on a regular, everyday hike."

"From the position of the body, nothing suggested they knew their attacker," McGee mentioned.

"Are we looking at a random axe murderer, then?" Tony asked. Random killings were never a good sign- it's so much easier when there's a motive besides the unpredictable.

"Ducky confirmed the axe we found was the murder weapon. He thinks the murderer was a lefty. Calluses on the victims suggest both used their right hands. The rangers were no help, either- they knew enough to identify the uniform as navy, and enough to not touch the bodies, but other than that, there's nothing we can get out of them," Gibbs explained.

_Dead end_, Tony thought. These cases were the ones that were al up to forensics. Hopefully, the random nautical axe murderer was careless enough to forget gloves.

Just then, Gibbs's phone rang.

"Gibbs… Got it. Be down in five." He hung up the phone. "Abby has a print."

* * *

"I wouldn't have believed this if I didn't find it myself, Gibbs," Abby began. "I took the scrap of negative we found and developed it, just in case. Look." She pulled it up on the screen. "In the background, you can see our crime scene. But here, there's something blocking the shot. It's the photographer's finger- not pressed entirely to the lens but close enough to be seen. I was able to adjust the white balance just enough to see the fingerprint."

Tony laughed. "What are the chances of that?"

"Extremely slim. I also discovered that, while our perp was careless with his camera, he was careful to wear gloves. Nothing on the camera, handle, bottle caps, bill, or jerky. I'm running the print from the camera through AFIS. In the meantime, I can tell you that neither dead guy had anything weird in their systems.

"Right. It's getting late. We'll regroup tomorrow morning. In the meantime, get some rest," Gibbs said.

He was right- it was late.

"Oh, and Abby?" Gibbs said.

"Yes?"

"Vance doesn't like the puppy running around in the lab. What if he contaminates evidence?"

"But you know I would never let-"Abby began, defending herself.

"I said, Vance doesn't like it. I'm fine. I'll deal with him."

Abby smiled.

* * *

Tony and Ziva decided to follow McGee to the evidence garage, to see the bike he was riding. But upon arriving, they discovered a ticked-off McGee demanding answers from the techs working there.

"You took it out with the trash?" he exclaimed. "How could you let that happen?"

"Hey Mc10-speed, lost your wheels?" Tony called out, laughing.

"They thought it was left here by mistake! I thought no one would touch it!"

"Guess you thought wrong. Need a lift home, or are you going to take the bus?" he responded.

"That's okay, I still have my bus pass. Thanks anyways."

Tony and Ziva walked out to the parking lot. "I still say he only had that bike to pick up girls," Ziva said, smiling.

"Most likely. McGee was on the McProwl."

"Then again, cycling is good exercise. Maybe you should take it up," she suggested, her eyes looking Tony up and down, like she does. Without another word, she walked off to her car.

_I don't need to… do I?_ Tony thought to himself. He would never quite be able to figure out Ziva's little remarks. She would say something that, from anyone else, would be an insult, but from her, it was more like a playful ruse. But Ziva David doesn't play. She was one of the most formidable women Tony had ever met- she was raised as a killer, could assassinate anyone seven different ways with a toothpick, and never failed to break out some serious ninja moves when the team got into a situation… all while threatening Tony's adherence to rule number twelve.

He tried to keep his mind out of the gutter with her, especially after what had happened over the summer. The worst summer of his life, and an even worse summer for her. She was held captive in Somalia and tortured for information about NCIS, while he stayed safe and sound in Washington. In fact, it wasn't until September when he thought she was dead that he went to kill her captor, Salim. As it turned out, Ziva was alive, and the team was able to bring her back. Worst summer ever.

After that, things changed. Ziva kept her ever-present defenses up, letting no one see what she had been through. Despite those walls, he could plainly see that she was not over the trauma. No one could be over the trauma. He felt guilty for not doing something sooner. Maybe, then, she wouldn't be so haunted now.

She came so close to revealing everything in Paris. Due to a mix-up with the rooms, the two had to share a bed. Tony obviously didn't mind sharing one with a woman, but he knew not to try anything- not only was she most likely not interested in him, but she needed a friend, not a lover. The two spent the beginning of the night on the far edges of the bed. He didn't get much sleep- her thrashing in her sleep kept him awake. It didn't last long, just a few minutes, but whatever she was dreaming about certainly wasn't pleasant. He knew it was Somalia, even though the words she murmured were in Hebrew. He thought back to that night as he drove home.

_Tony shook her lightly to wake her up. Ziva instantly awoke and recoiled at his touch. When she realized it was only him, she relaxed for a moment. He could see she was still shaking off the memory of her dream. After about a minute, she spoke. _

"_I am sorry to have awoken you."_

"_It's okay. I wasn't sleeping anyways."_

_He decided to save her the embarrassment. "I woke you up because you were about to fall off the bed."_

_She looked down. "I appreciate your attempts at making things less awkward, Tony."_

"_You ever need to talk, about anything, you let me know."_

_It seemed, for a minute, that she was about to take him up on that offer. In her eyes he could see something foreign to her usual appearance. He could see her in a whole different way, like instead of being the strong ninja chick he was used to, she was lost. He was prepared to do anything to find her._

_She said nothing, just creeped closer to him. Experimentally, he laid his arm lightly around her waist. That's how they fell asleep. She had no more nightmares- Tony made sure of it by staying up longer than he needed to, watching her for any sign of something he could fix. The night was similar to their stakeout in which the two had posed as a couple, but so different. Tonight, they were close in ways other than those purely physical._

Tony was so lost in thought that he almost ran the stoplight before his apartment. By the time he got home, he walked upstairs, trying to tell himself that it wasn't his fault. Parts of him refused to believe it.

* * *

The next morning, Tony awoke to a phone call from Gibbs.

"You get over to Ziva's apartment. Now. No questions."

His mind started running. A thousand explanations flew through his head, none of which he liked- a bomb, a terrorist attack, criminals hunting for her, a disease outbreak- he forced himself to stop thinking and concentrate on getting changed. Tony was out the door in a matter of minutes.

**Hmmmm... I wonder what happened to Ziva? I won't tell you, but I will say this: there's some giant Tiva-ness in the next chapter! Review please, and if you can think of any complaints, review and rant! Byezzz!**


	3. Pictures

**Here it is, chapter 3 out of 5. No one figured out the video game reference... the street names of where the dead guys lived, Petalburg and Rustboro, are towns from the original Pokemon games (I am such a dork!) which, even though I am in high school, I still secretly play sometimes..... :)**

**So, in this chapter, I had to decide between spelling the man's name "Salim" or "Saleem". I've heard both. Anyone know which one's correct?**

**And last but not least, I tried to stay as in-character as I could here, taking as few liberties with Ziva as possible. In fact, one of the biggest liberties I take is making Tony less focused on women's bodies (I didn't feel like going into THAT part of his brain, hahaha). Send me a virtual Gibbs-head-slap if I write anything egregiously out of character.**

Tony arrived to find Ziva sitting on the front steps of her apartment, waiting for him.

"What's going on? Are you all right?" he asked, relieved to see her.

"Of course I am fine. And I do not know, Gibbs told me to come into work with you."

"He made it sound like you were injured or something." It was clear to Tony that Ziva was unaware of the panicked nature of the call. It was also clear that he needed to calm down.

"Let's hurry up. Something bad has happened, or else he wouldn't have told me to get you."

"But not something terrible," Ziva added, "Or else he would have gotten me himself."

* * *

The pair walked into NCIS to see a worried Gibbs, McGee, and Abby standing around the entrance. In traditional Abby fashion, she rushed over to hug Ziva.

"What the heck is going on?" Tony asked.

"I think you'd better come see this," Abby said, leading Ziva by the hand towards the computers in the bull pen. There were small black streaks under her eyes- her makeup had run. _Had she been crying? _Abby took out the twenty dollar note from the crime scene.

"I was looking closely at this because it seemed hinky. Turns out, I was right. Not only can you not see the Jackson image on the right hand side when you hold it up to the light, there is a URL in place of the words, 'Treasurer of the United States'. Really obvious, actually. So I went to the website and this is what I found. McGee?" Abby explained.

Tim pressed a button on the monitor and a disturbing series of images flashed across the screen- pictures from Ziva's time in Somalia. There was one of her swollen face, others of the whip marks across her back. Even some of her just lying on the ground, curled up, trying to sleep through it all. There were some recent ones, also- showing that someone had been following her, and that same someone had access to Salim's video surveillance system. At the top of the page were the words, "You will not escape us again".

Tony stared at the awful pictures in front of him, then was enraged and guilty that it was his fault she was subjected to such things. He turned to Ziva, whose expression showed that all her memories were coming back, this time with an all-too-vivid visual aide. He saw that look- the same one from the night in Paris. She looked hollow, staring at the screen, transfixed and lost in the recollection.

"Turn it off, McGee," he commanded, his voice aggressive. "OFF."

The pictures disappeared from view. Before anyone could collect their thoughts enough to say anything, Ziva fell to the ground.

Tony put out his hands and managed to keep her head from hitting the floor too hard. "I'll get Ducky," McGee said, rushing to the phone. Abby and Gibbs knelt down on the other side of her, Abby's face betraying more concern than Gibbs, but both equally concerned.

Tim was barely dialing the numbers when Ziva's eyes opened.

"Give her some air," Tony said, indicating for the others to back up, while not heeding his words himself. "Are you all right?"

Ziva just looked around, confused at first. "What just happened?" she asked.

"You passed out. Don't try to get up until Ducky is here," Tony explained, his one hand behind her head and his other hand in hers.

"I am fine. Let me get up," she protested.

"No chance," Gibbs told her.

She started to whisper to Tony. "A vivid flashback… is that why I'm down here?"

"No. We just found some… pictures from your time there. You didn't need to see them. I should have made McStupid turn it off sooner."

"What is happening to me?"

Tony suspected some sort of post-traumatic stress. No one can go through something as awful as she did, see pictures of it, and not have some sort of reaction. "I don't know the specifics, Ducky can tell you. But you're not in Somalia. You're here, and you're safe. You're safe."

She shut her eyes to get the images out of her mind, focusing on his words. When they re-opened, Ducky arrived.

"Ziva, my dear, what happened?" he asked, concerned. Kneeling down to check on her, he waved a small flashlight in her eyes. Satisfied with her reaction, he began asking her questions. Tony never got up, he stayed right next to Ziva.

When Ducky came to a conclusion, he whispered it to Gibbs, who nodded his head. "Help her up, DiNozzo."

Tony did just that. After helping her stand, his left hand remained in her right one.

"Don't worry, Ziva. What happened here is very normal- you passed out from the stress of remembering what happened. You'll be fine to stay here, although I do suggest you eat something just in case, and under no circumstances look at those images again."

"Tony," commanded Gibbs, "Get her something from the vending machine."

He let go of Ziva's hand and walked to the machines. Tony wouldn't admit it but he was reluctant to leave her. Focusing on the task at hand, he bought a bag of southern barbecue flavored pretzels- her favorite- and brought it back to the bull pen.

"Should I bring her home, Boss?" Tony asked Gibbs.

"I am fine, thank you. We need to catch the killer. I cannot be taking a sick day," Ziva said, ever the brave one.

"She'll be safer here. If these bastards are trying to get to her, they sure as hell won't be able to get past me." Gibbs pulled Tony off to the side. "I am ordering you to watch her. I don't care what she says, do not let her out of your sight and do not let her see those pictures again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Boss. Wouldn't have it any other way." Tony meant it.

* * *

*temporary Abby pov*

Abby was on edge. For someone who doesn't like her friends being threatened, her friends were certainly threatened a lot. In fact, forensic scientist was a pretty foolish profession for someone as protective as Abby- but she loved every minute of it, because it was her work that eventually put the perpetrators behind bars.

The team had come to one conclusion- the only way a bill with the URL on it could have arrived at the crime scene is if Salim's people put it there, and that meant the crime was a set-up. In fact, the only thing linking the crime to NCIS was the navy guy running from the scene, so that was probably just a terrorist dressed up. What a disgrace to the uniform.

But why would the group leave such an obvious clue? It was too obvious to be a set-up. There's no way the bill could have been there by accident, or as a set-up. No, this was a set-up set-up. The criminals tried to make a set-up but made it too obviously. So, what was their real game?

Nothing in the rest of the evidence gave any hints- the bottle caps and the jerky were probably just left over from some random hikers. All they had to go on was the website.

Looking at the pictures, Abby could do nothing but stare. She thought Ziva must be one of the strongest people she knew, to go through that and come out alive. Abby must have seen the looping images seven times through before McGee walked in on her blank stare. He gave her a hug and directed her attention to finding out where the website came from.

It was rather easy to trace the IP address- a laptop that was presently in use in the middle of a dense woods, fifteen miles away. Seemed too easy, like a set-up… but such an easy set-up. Despite her thoughts, she alerted Gibbs and the team of the laptop's position.

**Okay, okay, I bet you're thinking, "You left us with a cliffhanger last chapter only to make Ziva sitting calmly on her front stoop waiting for Tony to show up?!"... but I had to, and at least I didn't put a cliffhanger in this chapter.**

**Yet.**

**What I have next is a little preview of next chapter. If you don't want to be hung off a cliff again, don't read it, it belongs in chapter 4 and will be in context there.**

"I am sorry you had to see those pictures."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. In a way, I…" He stopped himself before he said he was glad to have seen them because it helped him understand what she had been through.

"You what, Tony?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad it's over."

"That it not what you were going to say, is it?" She could always read him like a book.

What could he say? As genuinely as he meant it, there was no way to say it without making it sound like, 'I'm glad I could invade your privacy' or 'I'm glad I saw you at your weakest'. That's how it would come across to Ziva. He figured he may as well bite the bullet and say something else he had been thinking to distract her from this thought...

**Please please please review, I love reviews and I reply to every one of them that isn't anonymous! I like criticisms too, they're the only way I can get any better... so if you think I messed something up, don't hesitate to tell me!**

**Byeeee!!!**


	4. A Different Intimacy

**Okay, thank you soo much for catching my misspelling of 'Saeem'... in my defense, I thought it would be an I because the I in 'David' would make the same sound as the I in 'Salim'. But I guess I was wrong. I tried to change them all to Saleem, but if I missed one, I'm sorry :)**

**I have been getting so many reviews and I love all of you who review, and I reply to every single one of them. I especially would like detailed reviews that give me advice and criticisms because I know I'm not perfect and I like making improvements... for example, someone told me to add detail, so I worked on that.**

**The question I have for you guys in this chapter is, have I stayed in character and made this plausible? Or is it too fluffy? Not gonna lie, this is a cute chapter, but there's a fine line between cute and fluffy and I hope I haven't overstepped it.**

**For those of you who read the preview, it will most likely make more sense in context- it is halfway in the middle of this chapter.**

*back to Tony pov*

With every minute, Ziva was becoming more aware of the embarrassment she caused herself by passing out. That's such an un-Ziva-like thing to do. Tony could see her discomfort, so he did his best to keep an eye on her as discreetly as possible. He knew Ziva didn't want to be watched over by the team or treated like she was something to protect. She was used to being the protector, the ninja. She's saved the asses of everyone on the team. Tony couldn't count the number of times she wrestled a suspect into handcuffs before he and McGee had a chance to do anything.

He knew not to push her, not to make her talk. He wasn't stupid. So, instead of taking the direct approach, he talked to her from a different angle- an analytical, detective-like one. As she sat at her desk across from his, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular, he struck up a conversation.

"So," he began, "who do you think could have made that website?"

"Any one of Saleem's cohorts. One of them could have gotten free with the footage. He is probably trying to complete what Saleem started- to kill me. There is no good approach to finding out who it is." She looked him in the eyes, talking as though she was just the investigator, not the target.

"So, why lead us on this wild goose chase?"

Before Ziva could think up an answer, Gibbs walked through, coffee in hand, eyes betraying the usual 'you mess with my team, i kick your ass' anger. "Grab your gear. We have a fix on the laptop that uploaded the pictures to that website."

Ziva and Tony reached for their stuff. "Not you two. If they're trying to kill you, Ziva, I'm not bringing you to them."

"Gibbs, I can take care of myself," Ziva protested.

"No. Tony, drive her home. Stay there until we get back. No questions," Gibbs commanded. "Don't take her home in case it's a trap, just let her borrow something of yours to sleep in."

There was nothing more they could say.

Ten minutes later, Gibbs and McGee were gone with some other agents to the forest where the laptop was being used and Tony and Ziva were in the car. It was a quiet drive to begin with. He kept his hands on the wheel, his eyes looking forwards, but only half his mind on the task at hand- the other half concerned with the safety of the ninja chick beside him. Tony didn't want to mention how worried he was and Ziva didn't want to admit that she was worried, too. Eventually, she broke the silence.

"I am sorry you had to see those pictures."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. In a way, I…" He stopped himself before he said he was glad to have seen then because it helped him understand what she had been through.

"You what, Tony?"

"Nothing. I'm just glad it's over."

"That it not what you were going to say, is it?" She could always read him like a book.

What could he say? As genuinely as he meant it, there was no way to say it without making it sound like, 'I'm glad I could invade your privacy' or 'I'm glad I saw you at your weakest'. That's how it would come across to Ziva. He figured he may as well bite the bullet and say something else he had been thinking to distract her from this thought.

"In a way, I needed to see what I had done to you. It was my fault you were there. I'm amazed you even trust me, after what I did to you."

They arrived at Tony's apartment in silence and walked into it the same way. It wasn't until they had locked the doors that Ziva took Tony by the hand and led him to the couch, where the two sat, angled to that they were almost facing each other.

"Don't you ever say that again, Tony!" Ziva suddenly exclaimed, anger and frustration in her eyes. "Don't you ever blame yourself. You saved me. You saved my life, and I will forever owe you. I had a long time to think in that cell in Somalia and I know what happened was not your fault. You and Michael, that was not on purpose. You had no way of knowing." At this point, she was showing more emotion than she had in awhile- her eyes were blazing, her voice wavering slightly with anger and sadness, wringing her hands as she spoke.

Tony couldn't look at her, so he looked at the carpet. "I knew something was wrong in June when you first left. I knew something was wrong in July. In August. I waited for you to die before I took any action. I let you go! And by some miracle, I got to see you again- some incredible miracle- but it came with a price. I knew it was bad, but today I got to see exactly what all the waiting did to you. I let you die before I came for you." Every word he said, he meant. This wasn't some cop-out, he was speaking from his heart. The eyes of a guilty man looked over to her, scanning her face for a hint of a response.

"Just stop it." Without another word, Ziva stood up and walked off. Tony didn't follow her. He just sat, wishing last summer never happened. _The scars she must have… the scars I let him give to her. And here she is, surviving. No thanks to me!_

He put his head in his hands and left it there, mentally kicking himself. He could hear her open his closet to, most likely, find something suitable to wear to bed. A few minutes passed, then Tony heard a small noise from the next room. He got up and followed it.

"Ziva?" he called, approaching his bedroom. He opened the door and looked inside. There Ziva was. She wore an old button-up shirt of his, unbuttoned, with her cami on underneath and what looked like a pair of his boxer shorts, rolled up at the waist to serve as pyjama shorts. She had her legs pulled to her chest as she sat on his bed in front of his laptop computer. Her face was turned away from him, hidden by her hair, and he could see past her what was on the screen.

Concerned, he walked over and put an arm around her. She flinched, but then relaxed. The scent of vanilla from her hair filled his nose. Tony joined her on the bed, looking at the haunting slideshow of images he knew Ziva wouldn't want anyone else to see. The sound he heard was her crying- softly and only just enough for him to hear. She curled closer to him as the two watched the pictures flash on the screen. She looked so small, so vulnerable, drowning in a too-big shirt and leaning her head on his chest. He knew her walls weren't down, but he was somehow inside- just the two of them, the only people in the world who could see what Ziva kept hidden. Even after the pictures stopped flashing and the laptop screen went dark, there they stayed together. No one spoke. No one had to speak. Even though it was only eight o'clock at night, Ziva fell asleep. Tony picked her up, brought her to the top of the bed, and tucked her in.

_I guess the most intimate moments need no intimacy at all._

He crept out of the room to check his phone. There were no missed calls. Tony found that strange because it had been over an hour since Gibbs and the team set off for their mission. But before he could get too deep into his thoughts, he heard a loud crash of glass and the banging of noisy footsteps, followed by the shattering screams of the last person he wanted to see hurt.

_Ziva._

**Please don't slaughter me for the cliffhanger! I just had to! But I'll tell you this much... I'm not typically a tragic ending person.**

**I love reviews and I answer to all of them (unless they're anonymous)!!!**


	5. Not This Time

**Oh my goodness I am so embarrassed... I was putting asterisks in between scenes in the last 4 chapters and I only discovered today that they were being deleted when I uploaded! I'm so sorry my scenes ran together! Now I'm putting lines in there.**

**So here it is, the fifth and final chapter for this story. Hope you like it. Special thanks to reader bat-with-butterfly-wings for suggesting I add something with Abby and Ziva's friendship. That ended up turning into a little section of Ziva's POV, which wasn't easy- I never intended on getting in her head- but it was fun.**

**I hope everyone likes how I end this story. Please review and tell me what you think!!**

Tony grabbed his gun from the table and rushed back into the bedroom, prepared to fight. When he got there, he saw six masked attackers, three of whom were holding Ziva down, three of whom pointed their guns at his face.

"Federal agents, drop your weapons and let her go!" After he said this, he realized how dumb it was- this wasn't a drug bust, of course they knew they were federal agents.

"You fool, Anthony. You do not realize what you are dealing with," one of the men pointing a gun at him said. He spoke with a thick accent similar to Saleem's. "You should have run when you had the chance."

"I'm not letting her go this time. I made that mistake last summer and it nearly cost her life. You're going to have to kill me first."

Ziva started yelling something at that statement, but since one kidnapper had his hand over her mouth, it came out as a muffled, shrill scream.

"You are out-numbered, Special Agent. We made sure of that."

"The crime scene was a set-up, and the set-up turned out to be a decoy. You set up your set-up. Should have known you dirty bastards would try something like that," Tony began. "So where's our team?"

"Wandering through the forest chasing a signal that is actually up a tree," the terrorist laughed.

"Looks like I'm going to have to deal with you all myself then." Tony was dead serious.

"I have an idea," one of the men holding Ziva down said. "Let's kill him first and make her watch."

At that, Ziva started yelling muffled things and thrashing to get free of her captors, but it was impossible.

Tony sprung into action. He shot one of the men with guns in the head, only to hear the leader say, "Keep him alive, I want to kill them both myself!". He could hear shots being fired. After shooting the second, one man who was holding Ziva sprung up to knock him out. Ziva managed to get free, reach for her knife, and stab one of them in the head before the barrel of someone's gun collided so quickly with Tony's head he fell to the ground. The last thing he remembered before everything went black were the sounds of Ziva screaming his name and someone bursting through the door…

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Somewhere, off in the distance, Tony could hear a noise. Sounded like a noise in a hospital. He could smell the over-clean scent of hospital, mixed in with the tantalizingly familiar aroma of vanilla shampoo. After a moment, he opened his eyes. Sure enough, he was in a hospital.

_Hospital. What happened? Am I okay? My shoulder hurts. So does my head.. And where is that vanilla coming from?_

It only took a minute for him to remember where he had last been. The beeping grew louder as he started to panic. _Where's Ziva?_

The increase in the heart rate monitor's speed called in a nurse, and also woke up the person sleeping in another hospital bed pushed up near his. And then, he saw her.

"Tony? You're awake!" she gasped. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up!"

Relieved but puzzled, Tony asked, "How the hell did we survive that?"

Ziva, who had been sleeping just feet away from him, smiled. "You saved my life, once again. There were six men, and you took out two of them even after you were shot three times in the shoulder. It didn't look like you noticed. You made enough confusion for me to break free and stab another two, and the yelling hurried Gibbs and McGee upstairs, who took care of the last two, but not until someone hit you over the head with a gun. You passed out and started losing a lot of blood from your shoulder. We rushed you to the hospital and you've been out of it for three days."

It all came back to him. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Ziva laughed. "I'm fine. Be concerned about yourself, you're very lucky those shots were only in your shoulder."

Tony was still a little lightheaded. He looked around. "Why is your stuff here?"

"I had Gibbs bring me my go-bag. I haven't left. Good thing the hospitals have showers."

**

* * *

**

*Ziva POV*

Ziva walked out of the hospital room after Tony fell asleep. The last three days passed for her in a blur- the rest of the team visited frequently, but she wasn't paying much attention to that. Besides, she could guess what they all had done-Abby probably worried and hugged him (she was fairly certain she had hugged her, too), Ducky probably asked he nurses for specifics, Gibbs probably kept silent but was concerned on the inside, and McGee probably didn't know quite what to do.

Upon leaving the hospital room, she ran into the person she didn't know she needed to see- Abby. The two had an interesting relationship- Ziva never was close to any of her real family, so Abby was the closest thing to a sister she had. Ziva expected her to run straight into the hospital room to see Tony awake, but before she got to the door, she turned around, a concerned expression on her face.

"Ziva?" she began cautiously, to avoid being annoying, "Are you going to be back to normal now that Tony's awake?"

The ex-Mossad officer was suprised at the question. "Was I abnormal?"

"No... well, yeah, kind of. You have barely talked the past three days, just stared at the wall and gave quick one-word answers to anyone who asks you a question. I don't know how to describe it, but I've been worried nonetheless. Obviously you've been concerned about Tony, we all have, but is there something else you want to talk about?"

It was clear what Abby was getting at- Somalia. Ziva wasn't prepared to share anything about Somalia. Nothing needed to be said. But this was Abby- saying nothing is never an option. So she compromised, and when Abby tried to give her a hug, she let her, and stayed there.

"Those pictures- I can't believe that all happened to you. You're so much stronger than I could ever be. Please be okay. You've been a zombie- and not the cool kind- and I want you back," Abby blurted out during the hug. She let go to say one last thing.

"I bet if you just tell Tony how you feel about him, everything will be better," she said with a sly smile before turning on her heels and walking into Tony's room, leaving Ziva speechless.

* * *

*Tony POV*

It didn't take Tony long to be back on his feet. His shoulder was in a sling, and his head didn't sustain any permanent damage. He had three blood transfusions over the course of his hospital stay, but by the day after he awoke, he was discharged.

Abby gave him the usual welcome-back hug. Gibbs warned him that if he ever attempted to take on six armed assassins with only one gun, he would be fired, but congratulated him on doing it anyways. McGee gave him a good-job and a friendly hug. As it turned out, the fingerprint from the camera came back as Salim's brother. Tony was satisfied knowing that dirt-bag was dead and never would lay another finger on Ziva.

That night, it was Ziva who chauffeured Tony home. The two sat down on the couch.

"You really stayed with me at the hospital for three days?" Tony asked when they were alone.

"You took on six gunmen to save me?" she retaliated.

"I wasn't about to have a repeat of last summer."

"It was a foolish thing for you to do. As I watched them wheel you into surgery, I was so appreciative of what you had done, but why did you do it?"

Tony took her hand. "I have already faced life thinking you were dead and I wasn't about to let that become a reality. Being perfectly honest, my intentions were to take out as many of those men as I could to leave you with a fighting chance to kill the rest with your knife. I figured if I could get at least three of them, you might be able to get out of there alive."

"But you did not intend to make it out." She looked down. "That was stupid of you. I do not know why you bothered. Very stupid."

Out of frustration, Tony half snapped, "So I'm stupid, then. So be it. I'm the stupid guy who would risk it all to let you see another day." Why didn't she get it?

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Remember in the car, when I was about to say something but then I covered it up? What I really meant to say was that I was glad I'd seen the pictures because it helped me understand what you'd been through, but I didn't want to say it because every way I worded it wounded like an invasion of privacy. Well, I figured it out. Ziva, I'm glad I saw the pictures because the most beautiful girl in the world has shared with me through them the horrors she has seen, and together, we can get through it. I love every part of you, not just you on the outside. So stop trying to be perfect and silent about it because I know this all has affected you and I love you even more for it. If you want to go on putting up walls, I'll be the last one to try to stop you, but I'll be here if you need someone to tear the walls down and keep you safe myself. And I don't care how stupid it was, I wasn't about to let you go." There it was- Tony said it, the words he'd been holding onto since the summer. Now he could only hope she felt the same way.

Ziva said nothing, just leaned towards him. She climbed in his lap, careful to avoid touching his injured shoulder. Before he could think (not that he could think very well, thanks to how close she was and how much that vanilla was scrambling his brain,) her lips were on his and her hands were running through his hair. In an instant, he responded, nearly lightheaded. He wished it never had to end, that they could stay like this forever. But a few moments later, he could feel her lips leave his. Dazed, he opened his eyes and looked into hers.

"This is wrong," Ziva said soberingly, slight guilt in her eyes, as she scooted away from him. "Rule number twelve. I should not have kissed you."

Tony, still hanging on her every word, wasn't going to listen to that. "I don't really care what Gibbs thinks of us, all I know is you're the only thing I can think about right now."

"I suppose Gibbs can make an exception," she whispered, taunting him. Her hands traced lines up and down his arms. She brought her lips near his and left them there for a moment before Tony bridged the distance and kissed her again.

"You're teasing me here, aren't you," he whispered in between kisses.

"Would I have it any other way?" Ziva replied.

_Why am I not surprised?_

**Good ending? Bad ending? Complaints? Review!**

**Oh, and this won't be my last NCIS fanfiction- I'm thinking of doing one about Gibbs' rules, and another one that will be a humor one-shot.**

**Review pleaseeeeeee!!!**

**Bye!**


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